Among conventional manipulation devices for manipulating a vehicular apparatus are ones that are equipped with a haptic controller of the above kind. Conventional haptic controllers include an actuator as a motive power source for supplying force to a manipulation member that is manipulated manually, a detecting section for detecting a position of the manipulation member, and a computing means for calculating, in accordance with the position of the manipulation member detected by the detecting section, a control value to be used for controlling the actuator.
The computing means includes a storing section in which a preset force pattern to be used for supplying a prescribed force to the manipulation member in accordance with its position is stored, and a computing section for producing a control value on the basis of the force pattern in accordance with a position of the manipulation member detected by the detecting section. The force pattern is formed by points in which forces to be supplied to the actuator are set for respective fine sections of a movement range of the manipulation member.
In the above-described haptic controller, the manipulation member position is detected by the detecting section as soon as the manipulation member is manipulated. In the computing means, the computing section produces a control value on the basis of the force pattern that is stored in the storing section in accordance with a position of the manipulation member and sends the control valve to the actuator. The actuator outputs a force on the basis of the control value and the force is transmitted to the manipulation member, which gives a manipulative feel to the manipulator.
In the above conventional haptic controller, the force pattern is formed by points in which forces to be supplied to the manipulation member are set for respective fine sections of manipulation member movement range. Hence, the number of points that are set to form the force pattern is very large. Therefore, to adjust or alter the force pattern, it is necessary to modify a large number of points one by one.